Starship Technologies was founded in Estonia but is now based in San Francisco. The company employs dozens of six-wheeled delivery robots on college campuses. Now, Starship is adding four new schools to its operational field: University of Illinois Chicago, University of Kentucky, University of Nevada, Reno and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
At present, the company operates on 20 college campuses in 15 states with a global fleet that totals 1,000 robots. This expansion will add 85 more robots to that fleet. Starship states that it has done over 5million deliveries worldwide since its founding in 2014. The company has raised $102 million so far, including $17 million in fresh funding announced earlier this year.
Each robot in Starship is electric, has a box that can fit about 20 pounds of goods, and has a number of cameras to recognize obstacles and help guide it to its destination. The robots have a delivery range of three to four miles and can travel at a maximum speed of 4mph;which is obviously slower than a delivery by a human on a bike or in a car. And they can climb the edge of the road but not stairs, which may limit their appeal to customers who live in high-rise buildings.
Delivery via robots is still relatively neoteric in the US. There are a handful of start-ups operating delivery robots of varying sizes—everything from fully-sized minivans like Udelv to robots that are almost similar to Starship's like Amazon and Yandex. Recently, Postmates has also invented a delivery robot called Serve that can carry 50 pounds of goods. There are even some newly-produced robots like Nuro, which can be described as a mini-robotic car. All claim to be automated, but some still require humans to follow their movements.
Demand for delivery robots has risen since the pandemic, though it remains to be seen whether that will hold up as the economy reopens and fewer people rely on takeout food from restaurants.
